


every bird shall rise from the flames

by iuniore



Category: Far Cry (Video Games), Far Cry 4
Genre: (very little angst), Character Study, Explicit Language, Extended Metaphors, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, POV Alternating, Post-Game(s), lapslock, previously uploaded with the title 'every bird will spread its wings'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-22 21:02:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18535423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iuniore/pseuds/iuniore
Summary: pictured, circa 2014: a relationship taking flight, finally leaving the warm confines of a nest, as if beginning to explore the skies for the first time. nothing is closer to the view of perfection than a bird or two soaring across the decorated sky, wings spread in a pretty show of grace.





	every bird shall rise from the flames

**Author's Note:**

> hello! some of you may recognise this fic from its old upload on my previous account. this version is still up [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14436246), though i'm reuploading (and heavily editing) my fics so i feel like they better represent my writing.

ajay’s relationship is stress-free. casual. the no-strings-attached kind of deal. whatever the word for it, the nature of it remains the same.  if you were to inquire as to why, he may shrug, or laugh it off. his relationship is comfortable after all, and he has no reason to change it.

ajay is perfectly attracted to sabal. has been since the moment they met, with sabal’s gentle eyes and hard tone making him slip as though he was walking on ice. they’ve got all the time in the world, though. no need to rush when you’re accepting occasional too-deep, too-long glances and tender touches on the slight of your back by rough, calloused hands.

they are content with a lingering hug, a clean up after an especially poor mission, the rare kiss on the side of their neck. it’s a union of thanks, of acknowledgement, of an unspoken promise.

ajay has a lot of promises under his belt. slowly, he travels the world and crosses them off one by one. most recently: the painful promise to his mother, the one that shaped him into who he is today. with pagan min flying away— with the chipper wave and a smile— and mother and daughter together once more, ajay feels like a celebration is necessary.

the sound of the helicopter echos across the peaceful land, the sea of green trees and white, fluffy clouds empty of all usual sounds of gunfire. it’s a day for moving forward, as of two minutes ago. like a bird’s plume, the blue sky shimmers with weather so unusually soft and clear and ajay finds it hard to resist gliding through it.

so he does, accompanied by only a paraglider and an appeased heart.

 

 

 

sabal has stepped down.

perhaps he realised he was losing, when ajay swept in and chose morals over loyalty. maybe it was when he grew tired of the bets, each person anxiously waiting for either sabal or amita to be finished with fighting and turn it into something more serious.

amita can’t even do it herself, sabal thinks. she sends her lackey for anything that keeps her hands clean.

it’s cruel, though— sabal  _knows—_ to send someone so dear to sabal to end his life. realistically, he can see that ajay won’t do it, can’t pull the trigger. his grip is weak and his eyes show he’s already given up. but sabal takes too much pleasure from drawing this out, looking him in the eyes with a broken, little smile, spitting words that create a harsh feeling deep in his chest.

he walks out unharmed. time to disappear off of the planet, he supposes, but kyrat has always been beautiful this time of year.

sabal has never been able to stay away long.

seven quick beats of fist against wood bring him out of his stupor; the effect of what he’s done is immediate. to think that he should be allowed here, outside of the pristine and restored ghale household, after what he did, what he said, makes a feeling of panic settle somewhere in him.

he should have run for the mountains, hidden up in the hills where only the devout would find him.

sabal has always been a coward, in some shape or form.

but the door swings open, a face of surprise that quickly transforms itself into a smile greets him. sabal does a double take from what he sees.

ajay has always been beautiful; a statement none could deny. he was well loved and highly regarded within most households. what he did for kyrat turned the tides into what they have left today, and his skills budded from almost nothing, becoming one of the best hunters and trackers and gatherers within the small rebel community. it would be difficult to find anyone who could argue with that.

most find him physically attractive too. men and women alike would swoon when they see what gifts he brought back, whether it be a blood-coated gun or a thick wolf’s hide. his charming smile knocked whoever was lucky enough to witness it off of their feet. that, coupled with the playfully soft personality he expressed- well, it created a killing machine, in the best sense of the term.

sabal is not safe from that, especially when ajay beams at him as if he was the sun.

“sabal!” ajay greets, though his facade seems to melt into something more suspicious. “you’re not here to yell at me again, are you?”

the tone is casual, though sabal still flinches as if he’s been shot. ajay looks sorry but doesn’t say anything. only shrugs. sabal deserves that too.

“no,” he states, his voice so quiet that the wind nearly sweeps it away. it’s rare he should stutter over his words like this; so much for being an ex-public icon. “i suppose it starts off with an apology.”

“i suppose it does.” ajay says. “over a drink?”

“definitely.”

 

 

 

apologies are boring, in ajay’s opinion. from seeing sabal outside his house, looking like he’d prefer to be mauled by a pack of hungry boars, was more than enough an apology for him. sabal isn’t one to lay down his pride unless he thought it was worth it; him just being here proves that what they had is valuable.

seeing the book clasped in sabal’s talons interests him much more.

“what’s that?” ajay questions eventually, and sabal looks down like he forgot it was there.

“i suppose it was meant to be an offering of peace.” sabal replies. he passes it over and ajay flips through it, hands gently grazing the weak, half-destroyed pages.

“this thing looks like it’s been through hell.” ajay states. “the fuck did mom do with it?”

“by the state of it, i have reason to believe that it saw the beginning and end of the world.”

“i don’t think it’d be too far of an overstatement.” even as ajay turns it to read the scrawl of letters engraved into the back of it, heavily creased pages try to slip out of the well-worn spine.

“you let me read so many of mohan’s diaries, i thought i could at least return the favour.” sabal says. “finding this was like a dream come true. it’s almost a relic.”

there’s a brief moments pause, and then:

“would you mind if i read through it after you?”

ah, a reason to see each other again. ajay smiles.

“who am i to complain?”

 

 

 

sabal finds himself a house up in the mountains, surrounded by mounds of grass and an excess of rain. he builds himself a little farm— if you could call it that with how few animals actually resided on it— and lives a happy, unexciting life.

it’s different with ajay starts to show up.

the sound of a car forcing its way up the muddy, uneven path always startles sabal out of the quiet he’s used to. up here, no one can even hear you scream and visitors are so rare that whenever he sees another lifeform, it’s considered the eighth wonder of the world.

today, the sun must have refused to come up, hiding behind the clouds that roll in thick and dark and murderous, promising the threat of storms. it’s a miserable day to be outside, but his fences have decided to collapse in on themselves and it most likely cannot afford to wait any longer.

company makes it lighter, more bearable as they build away.

they take a rest not long after ajay arrives, fence fixed in under two hours. the goats inside have refused to come out due to the bad weather, so maybe it’s good luck that sabal didn’t need to worry about his livestock.

“you smell of shit.” is the sentence ajay leads with, as romantic as always.

there’s a laugh, familiar and heart, shared between the pair.

“that’s what the farm does to you.” sabal replies, before winking. “you’ll be used to it before long, with how often you’re starting to be here.”

“you just can’t keep me away.” ajay teases. “god, i’m hungry, though. you got food in?”

“as long as you’re cooking, you can empty my cupboards for all i care.”

in the months where they were apart, sabal realises that he’s missed this. missed the quiet atmosphere between them, or the loud and empty teasing. missed the soft touches, or the fun make-out sessions. missed, missed, missed; he’s missed it all. ajay is wild while he is calm, is ferocious whilst gentle.

ajay is everything he has ever wanted, and everything he’ll ever need.

 

 

 

once they’re finished with the house and the food and the chatter, they’ll collapse against the soft sheets of sabal’s bed, legs tangled and hands clasped firmly together. a hand will caress the other’s hair or thigh or stomach— where ever they can reach— and they’ll discuss everything and nothing. 

only then will sabal bring ajay’s hands up to his lips; down the knuckles he’ll go, kissing them one by one until ajay’s face is a pretty picture of bright pink. it’s an ' _i love you',_  if i ever saw one.

and ajay will smile— oh, so sweet— and bring his hand back down to his chest, where he’ll grip sabal’s shirt tighter, his breathing turning into something more relaxed as he takes in the familiar scent of home.

they will laugh, stress-free, in each other’s arms without a care in the world.

it’s an ' _i love you'_ , if i ever heard one.

**Author's Note:**

> hi! thank you for reading & i hope you enjoy ♡ feel free to leave a kudo or a comment !!  
>  
> 
> also, listen to my [fc4 playlist (on youtube)](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_rSVvI_mwOym0wEfUhqfsNM835FDpp2j)


End file.
